Emiliano Sala search team recover body from plane wreckage

A body has been recovered
from the wreckage of the plane which crashed with Cardiff City footballer
Emiliano Sala and pilot David Ibbotson on board.

The Air Accidents
Investigation Branch said specialist contractors joined the operation in
“challenging conditions”.

It was carried out in
“as dignified a way as possible” and the men’s families were kept
updated throughout, it said.

The wreckage of the plane,
which vanished two weeks ago over the English Channel, had been found off
Guernsey.

The Geo Ocean III, the boat
carrying the body, arrived at Portland Harbour in Dorset on Thursday morning.

The Piper Malibu N264DB
was en route from France to Cardiff, after the 28-year-old Argentine striker
made a quick trip back to his former club Nantes two days after his £15m transfer
to Cardiff was announced.

Mr Ibbotson, 59, from
Crowle, North Lincolnshire, was at the controls when the flight lost contact
with air traffic controllers on 21 January.

The body that was
recovered from the wreckage was being taken to the Isle of Portland to be
passed to the Dorset coroner. No details have been released concerning its identification.

An official search was
called off on 24 January after Guernsey’s harbour master said the chances of
survival were “extremely remote”.

However, the wreckage was
located thanks to a privately-funded operation led by marine scientist and
oceanographer David Mearns.

He called in the AAIB
after using sonar and a submersible device fitted with cameras to confirm it
was the plane.

Speaking to Argentine
broadcaster Cronica TV on Monday after the wreckage was discovered, Sala’s
father Horacio said: “I cannot believe it. This is a dream. A bad dream. I
am desperate.”

Image caption Cardiff fans
left a sea of flowers outside the Cardiff City Stadium in tribute to Emiliano
Sala

The AAIB used a remotely
operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to aid the search, and was able to recover
the single body previously seen in the wreckage.

It said efforts to recover
the crashed plane as a whole proved unsuccessful, before being abandoned due to
poor weather.

“The weather forecast
is poor for the foreseeable future and so the difficult decision was taken to
bring the overall operation to a close,” it said in a statement,

However, the AAIB said
video footage captured by the ROV would provide “valuable evidence”
for its safety investigation.

Meanwhile, it has emerged
that Sala’s former club, French Ligue 1 side Nantes, has demanded Cardiff City
pay his £15m transfer fee.

Sala, 28, was Cardiff’s
record signing but never played for the club.
The fee was due to be paid over three years but
Cardiff have withheld the first scheduled payment until they are satisfied with
the documentation.